Droplets
by IncandescentKitsune
Summary: Like droplets, these drabbles are small tastes of Rurouni Kenshin, some gen, some with pairings, some canon and some AU. And like droplets, these short ficlets will quench your thirst just enough to leave you longing for more... Kenshin/Various, Yaoi/Het
1. Kenshin x Tomoe, Silence

Kenshin x Tomoe

Silence

They did not need words to speak. Not these two broken souls, frozen in their pain unless they were with each other. Wounded and in pain alone, but whole together, finding some measure of happiness out of the ashes of their lives.

They both gravitated to the silence, and so that was how they communicated. In smiles and glances, a whole conversation held in the twitch at the corner of the mouth, in the fluttering of an eyelash, in slight movements of hand and arm and head.

_The harvest was good today;_ a twitch of a smile on a redheads lips.

_Dinner is ready; _jet black eyes flicker.

_The children are happy today; _a twitch of the head sending a long rope of red hair over a shoulder.

The one thing they never say, not in words or looks or touches, is _I love you._

He comes close, _until death do us part._

As does she,_ you need a sheath, to hold back the madness, so if you don't mind…I'm going to stay with you for a while._

But they don't say it – until it's too late. A last smile, pained as blood tints the snow pink, _it's alright, this is the way it's meant to be, so please don't cry._

Tears from violet eyes, as he presses his lips to her cold, dead smile.

_Please don't go. I love you._


	2. Saitou x Kenshin, Eyes

Saitou x Kenshin, Eyes

In Kyoto, even the markets smelled like blood. Hat covering crimson hair, Himura Battousai looked out over the busy marketplace. There was a feeling of tenseness in the air – people walked quickly, heads down, and nervously moved around the occasional spot that was conspicuously stained red.

Even so, life went on, and the market was one of the few places where Kenshin felt normal anymore.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the crowd, people stumbling away from the centre, huddling towards the edges.

Kenshin frowned, through a gap in the crowd he could just make out a group of men, wearing light blue Haori. He slipped through the crowd so silently that no-one noticed his passing until he was near the front. The blue haori had white triangles on the edges.

He'd been warned about this group, these Shinsengumi.

He studied the pack of wolves, eyes lingering on one tall figure, whose hair was pulled back severely except for some strands that fell in front of his face.

This man smelled like blood, and his ki was softened, hidden, but still bright, shining with conviction. Suddenly, the man he'd been watching turned his head and met

Kenshin's eyes. Kenshin gasped.

The man had amber eyes, killer's eyes…eyes like his.

He turned to one of the men next to him, asking him who the wolf like man was - Saitou Hajime, Captain of the third troop of the Shinsengumi.

_Saitou Hajime…_he mused. _The man who has the same eyes as me…_

He'd heard of the Shinsengumi's motto, but hadn't but much stock in it – _Aku Soku Zan_ was all very well and good, but in his experience, the members of the Shinsengumi were more likely to be fighting for honour or glory or bloodlust then any true belief.

But not this man. Even from here he could feel his conviction, like a flame_ - Kill evil instantly._

Turning to go, Kenshin put the man out of his mind except for one last thought – _maybe one day I'll have the honour of being killed by you, Saitou Hajime…Man with the same eyes as me._


	3. Katsura x Kenshin, Fire

Katsura x Kenshin, fire

The moment the boy had stepped out onto the training field, he'd felt the wheels of destiny begin to turn.

It was the colour of his hair that had done it, he thought later.

The colour of flame.

He'd embraced the philosophy of his teacher whole heartedly.

Fire, like the madness he was attempting to harness, would be use to burn down the old, corrupt and overgrown garden that was the shogunate, cleansing Japan.

The moment he'd seen that hair, he'd known it for the sign it was, and that impression was only confirmed by the boys performance on the field.

This young man, this Himura Kenshin, could be that cleansing fire. The fire that would clear away the mulch of the old era to make way for the new.

It was only when he looked into blank, colourless eyes, slowly edging into amber, that he realised his mistake – for in his fervour, he'd forgotten one crucial fact.

In the end, a fire inevitably consumes itself.


	4. Kenshin x Tomoe, Hair

Kenshin x Tomoe, Hair

He stepped into the small cottage in Otsu to find her waiting for him. She'd lit the fire already and the warm glows transformed her, already stunningly beautiful, into something transcendent, a goddess in a white yukata, light shining on smooth skin and highlighting the shadows of soft curves.

He stopped, breath caught.

This woman, framed by light, eyes dark and mysterious and somehow sorrowful, this woman was his wife.

It still took his breath away even now, caught by the same sheer joy he had felt when she had said yes, standing on a bridge as the sun set before them.

"Anata," came a soft voice.

Pulled from his thoughts, Kenshin blinked. He'd been doing that a lot more lately, drifting off and going into his own world when he never would have in Kyoto – was he finally getting used to the peace of the countryside?

Or was it her?

She made him react so strangely…

"Yes?" he replied.

Tomoe hesitated. Though her face was still expressionless, her body was tense and her hands were clenched tight in her yukata.

She was nervous, Kenshin realised with a start. What could she possibly be nervous of…him?

The very thought of her, the one person who treated him like a man and not a monster or a weapon fearing him.. the thought made his sick to his stomach.

"I…have a request, if it's not too much trouble…" she said softly.

"Nothing you ask for could be." He answered truthfully, relieved beyond words at the realization that she wasn't scared of him, but of being to presumptuous.

Frankly, she could ask for Japan itself and he would move heaven and earth to lay its emperors crown at her feet, just to see the light of happiness in her eyes.

"May I run my fingers through your hair?" she asked softly, eyes lowered demurely, the proper lady even now.

Kenshin blinked.

Why would she want to touch his hair? No-one liked his hair – it scared them, with it's colour like blood. Not even he liked his hair much…

But if it would make her happy…

He reached up and pulled the tie from his hair, causing it to fall around his face in waves down to his waist.

Tomoe sighed softly. His hair was so beautiful, shades of orange and red and gold like autumn leaves.

Ever since she'd first seen it at the inn where he had saved her, she'd longed to run her fingers through it, but it had been improper to even think of it – contrary to what most of the Ishin Shishi thought, she was not having relations with Himura-san whilst they were at the inn.

Frankly, it was still improper, but who was there to comment? And they were married now, though they hadn't consummated that marriage…

Yet…

Tomoe was drawn from her thoughts as her husband sat down with his back to her, and she reached out.

As her gentle fingers began combing through the long tresses, his thoughts wandered.

This felt goood…

But he was surprised at this ability of his to relax with his back to someone – even now he always slept sitting up. Then again, Tomoe was special…

But really, what did he even know about her? Nothing – he knew she wandered alone at night and drunk on sake, he knew she was a good cook, he knew she didn't like the war…

Not much at all really.

Who was this woman? He wondered to himself, slowly relaxing as she started massaging his head. Who was this woman?

Consumed by his thoughts and the gentle ministration to his hair, he slowly relaxed.

Tomoe blinked in surprise as she felt him relax into her – and then her eyes widened as he lay back fully, resting his head in her lap.

She hesitated a moment, blushing – then returned to her gentle stroking through her husbands hair.

_Yes, _she thought silently,_ my husband…_

His head pillowed on white linen and slender thighs, Kenshin drifted, entering the strange state between waking and sleep, and as he did his mind returned to his earlier thoughts.

Who was this woman, this Yukishiro Tomoe, that could so tame a demon and have him lie his head in her lap with only the soft stroke of her fingers through his hair?

Lying there, at peace for the first time in years, Kenshin knew the answer.

_This woman…is my wife._


End file.
